Because earthquakes are natural disasters, they're sometimes mentioned in the same breath as hurricanes and tornadoes. This can give the impression that earthquakes are somehow related to the weather. In reality, they're not, but the misconception persists.

A few years ago I was paging through a newspaper in a large eastern city. Of course, I headed right for the weather section. As I looked over the forecast weather map, I noticed the legend at the bottom - there were symbols for rain, snow, thunderstorms, all the common types of weather. There was also a symbol for earthquake! Yes, earthquake was included as a possible forecast! Can you imagine: Partly sunny, warm, and humid with scattered afternoon earthquakes. I don't think so!

I called the paper and they promptly revised their weather page. But be on the lookout for other as yet undiscovered weather corners where earthquakes may still lurk.